Should we expect any surprising pregame scratches from active roster tonight?

Well before quarterback Teddy Bridgewater’s devastating leg injury in one of the last practices before the 2016 NFL season, there was another story of interest surrounding the Vikings’ quarterback. Exactly one year ago today, the Vikings were in Seattle getting ready to play the Seahawks in their second preseason game of 2016. A healthy Bridgewater was coming off a solid outing the previous week in Cincinnati and was expected to start. Well, expected by everyone except for the man who makes that decision.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer surprisingly benched Bridgewater for the game at the last minute. The 36-year-old Shaun Hill was told he’d be starting the game for the first time while going through his pregame warmups. The timing caused everyone tuning in to speculate on why the mysterious move was being made and Vikings Twitter virtually exploded.

Zimmer didn’t offer many specifics as to why he made the decision. When asked why he was quoted saying, “Because I wanted to,” before shooting down all rumors that it was a disciplinary action. Bridgewater was later placed on the team injury report with a sore shoulder.

The most popular theory and the one that makes the most sense is Zimmer didn’t want to risk Bridgewater sustaining an injury against Seattle’s fearsome defense, as Dallas’ Tony Romo did a few weeks later. Given the state of the Vikings’ offensive line, it’s hard to blame Zimmer if that indeed was the reasoning behind.

Fast forward to tonight. A total of 365 days have passed. The Seattle defense is still really good and Minnesota’ offensive line is still a major question. Sam Bradford managed to stay healthy all year in 2016 but his injury history is a concern. Would it really be surprising if Zimmer benched Bradford tonight to keep him healthy?

It wouldn’t, but even though the teams, the stadium and the concerns are all the same as they were a year ago, where the Vikings’ offense is in relation to last year is not. The first-team offensive unit didn’t exactly light it up in their first preseason game in 2016, but they moved the ball and got in the end zone. The same can’t be said about how this team looked in Buffalo.

Benching Bradford wouldn’t be crazy, but he is still getting a grasp on this offense. He has new teammates protecting him up front and a new running back lining up behind him. It’s important for all these pieces to gel as much as they can before the games really start counting. With that in mind it’s much more important for Bradford to get reps in these games than it was for Bridgewater last season.

I doubt Zimmer will make the same move as he did a year ago, but much crazier things have happened. It should be Bradford’s first quarter tonight, but we won’t know until nine o’clock. Stay tuned.

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